Son
by Champion of Villains
Summary: What if Vader found Luke before "A New Hope"? What if they weren't sworn rivals? What if Vader never cut off Luke's hand? Can Palpatine hold onto his rule? ON HOLD
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Star Wars (George Lucas does). Nor do I own any of his characters.

**Son**

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, was dreaming. In his dream, he saw the place that he despised most in the galaxy –Tatooine. He could taste the sand as the dry winds ravaged across the barren desert, small dust devils forming in places where the wind was strongest. One of these tornados blurred, then morphed into a humanoid shape, one he thought he had forgotten: one he hoped he would never see again.

Shimi Skywalker drew nearer to him, her familiar face etched into a sad mask. _Why Ani? Why? _He didn't know, how could he? It was all in Palpatine's plot –he had been used. _Come back Ani, I need to see you…Come back… _

No, Vader wasn't about to return to the planet where he was a slave, where his mother had died, where he had killed the animals who had murdered her…

_Come back, please, you are needed…._


	2. Chapter 1

Vader woke with a start. The dreaming wasn't something unusual –he had experienced nightmares every day since the Republic fell, since Padme died, since Obi-Wan… _NO! I can't think about it. _But his mother said that he was needed, she had been so clear, not like some of the other dreams that he had seen. Still, return to Tatooine? It seemed so absurd.

"Lord Vader?" came the tentative voice of Captain Piett, bringing with it reality.

"What is it?" Vader snapped, no scrap of patience left for Piett or anyone else.

"There is a message for you, whoever it is says that it's urgent."  
"It had better be." Vader rose and exited his room, almost glad to have his mind on something else –who in the galaxy could be trying to contact him at one in the morning?

It turned out that the news was urgent –well, perhaps a better description would be that the news was utterly shocking.

"Are you sure Malorum?" Vader asked, once he finally was able to speak, "There can be no mistakes."

"I am sure my Lord," said the Inquisitor confidently, "I saw the records on Polis Massa myself."  
"Have you taken care of everything… else?"

"Yes, my Lord," replied Malorum, "you and I are the only two people in the galaxy who know about Luke Skywalker."

"Good," replied Vader, then he raised his hand and slowly pinched his thumb and first finger together, "Now I am the only one."

***

"What's wrong Skywalker?" Came the taunting voice of Ghren, a young Rodian, "Are you chicken?"  
"No!"

"Prove it!" said Ghren, "I don't believe you"  
"Fine, I will" replied Luke Skywalker, "When do you want to race?"  
"How about right now –before you can try and run off on me."

"Fine, where?"  
"Let's make things interesting," Ghren said slowly, smiling slightly, "Let's race one lap at the old podrace circuit." All listeners gave an audible gasp and started mumbling to each other.

"Come on Ghren," said Wedge, stepping out of the crowd, "That's just stupid –no one races there any longer –its too dangerous. Remember what happened to Rei?"

"Its okay Wedge," Luke interjected, "I'll do it."

"Are you crazy?" Wedge argued, "Real podracers used to die and they actually practiced with pods and everything –not on some old landspeeder that you only ever race when your uncle goes to the Toche Station."

"I said I'm doing it and I'm going to do it." Luke said, glaring at Wedge, then moved away to follow Ghren to where their speeders were parked.

***

"So you think that you can handle one lap?" Ghren asked upon their arrival at the circuit.

"Do you?" Was Luke's reply, "Now, do you want to talk or race –let's do this thing."

"Fine by me." Ghren said, smiling as he lined his speeder up at the starting line. By the time that Luke followed suit, quite a crowd had gathered to watch the race, some younglings betting on the outcomes, others simply craning their necks to see the circuit perfectly. One of the kids raised a flag, held it aloft for about three seconds, and then let it drop. At that moment, the speeders were gone in a cloud of dust. Ghren got the early lead, pulling ahead of Luke's speeder and widening his lead as he accelerated. Already, both speeders were going at maximum. _Great! I should have listened to Wedge, my speeder isn't fast or maneuverable enough to race here, still…I have to beat Ghren –I'm so sick of all his boasting and bullying of all the other racers. _Keeping one eye on the course, Luke turned his attention to the innards of his speeder, making some adjustments. Suddenly, his speeder lurched forwards and began to narrow the gap between himself and Ghren. _Almost there, now if I can just pass him… _Luke knew that time was running out, at the end of the laps was infamous Beggar's Canyon –a maze of caves filled with stalactites and stalagmites that were a racer's worst nightmare. No one ever tried to pass anyone in there –you were lucky if you managed to get through alive. However, it became apparent that Luke was out of time, Ghren entered the largest cave, with Luke still a hair behind. _What now?_ Luke thought desperately, then, time started to slow down. Every aspect of the cave became crystal clear to Luke –he was aware of it all and somehow realized that he knew exactly where Ghren was going to go next. _If he's going left, I think I can squeeze through on top of him if I take the turn tighter… _Ghren looked up to see Luke's speeder flash by his own, barely missing the cave's wall. He revved his speeder's engines and increased his own speed, trying to regain his lost lead. However, something weird was happening, every single time he tried to pass Luke, Luke compensated a millisecond before he could make his move, blocking him each and every time. Finally, desperate to win, he simply pushed his engines as fast as they could go and rammed right into the back of Luke's speeder. With a jolt, Luke felt himself being propelled forwards, his speeder tried to spin out of control and he only just managed to keep it straight towards the finish. He skidded out in a crash landing, spraying sand everywhere and barely had time to jump out before his speeder rolled over several times. He lay there in the sand, taking huge gulps of air, simply taking in the joy of being alive. He was somehow aware of Ghren stopping nearby, then seeing the angry crowd, taking off again towards Anchorhead.

"Luke!" _I must be going insane, _Luke thought to himself, still lying on the sand, _I can hear Uncle Owen…_

"What in the galaxy do you think you were doing?!?" continued his uncle's angry voice, "I can't believe that you would even consider attempting anything so…so… reckless! You deliberately disobeyed me –I told you: NO MORE RACING! I am taking you home this instant and we are going to have a discussion on exactly what your punishment is going to be!" _It is Uncle Owen –great! I somehow managed to survive the race so that he will now be able to kill me…perfect. _"Sorry Uncle Owen," started Luke, "I just…" was all Luke was able to say in response to his Uncle's angry tirade before he lost consciousness on the sand.


	3. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! Its great to know that you're enjoying the story.

Sorry about the cliff hangers, I'll try to post more so that they aren't quite as bad, but cliff hangers are sooooo addictive!

* * *

When Luke awoke, he found himself on his bed in his room and immediately identified his Aunt and Uncle's voices talking in the room next to his.

"Really Owen," said his Aunt, "You can't expect Luke to want to live life as a farmer –he's just too much like his father –its obvious that he loves to fly, why don't you just…"

"Just what?" interjected Owen, "Let him race? Beru, we **can't**, besides, it wouldn't be a bad thing if we stamped out his father's traits. Anakin was… wild, reckless, unpredictable and, from what I understood from Kenobi –he wasn't really a good person either."

"Owen, you only met him once and that was after his mother died," Beru responded calmly, "You can't go and judge a person like that."

"Well, from what I hear, he was a bad egg."

"Let's just go to sleep and we will talk to Luke about racing in the morning," Beru replied, still calm, "okay?"

"Fine," responded Owen grumpily, "But we will talk."

_I never knew that Uncle Owen had met my father –and what's all this about 'Kenobi'? Did old Ben know my father? How could he have? I thought that my father was a navigator on a spice freighter –definitely not a pilot who loved to fly and race. _Luke's head was so filled with questions that came with no answers that he stayed up well into the early hours of the morning. That's when he heard the perimeter alarms sound.

Luke sat bolt upright in bed even before the first alarm sounded –he could feel something very wrong, and very foreboding. The night before he had felt something bad too, except that nothing had happened. He heard his Uncle get out of bed and grab his blaster rifle on the way to the door. Luke knew the drill –stay in bed, don't move, don't get up and, above all: do not turn on any lights. If it was Tusken Raiders, they would take what they wanted and then leave…unless they were sighted –then they would attack. Luke could feel his heart beating about a million times per second, and felt chills running up and down his spine –what was going on? He nearly jumped right out of his skin when there came a pounding sound. No one moved. The pounding came again. Still no one moved. Then there came a voice that turned Luke's insides to water and his spine into ice,

"Owen Lars –I need to speak with you and if this door remains closed, I will open it myself –without any regard for the occupants of this building."

"Who is it?" Came the slightly strangled voice of Luke's Uncle –it was obvious to Luke: Owen was absolutely petrified with fear.

"Your step-brother," replied the void-like voice, "You didn't think that I had forgotten, did you?" Seconds passed by in silence, no one daring to move, until the voice once again broke the silence, "Open this door –I know that you are standing but a foot away with a pitiful blaster rifle clutched in your arms –I will give you five more seconds." Luke, still in his room, heard Owen deactivate the lock and open the door –then the entire house was swamped in the feeling of absolute darkness. Darth Vader entered.


	4. Chapter 3

Luke began to get out of bed –trying to find out what was going on –when Beru walked past his room and motioned for him to stay put. _What in the galaxy is going on?_

In the other room, Owen Lars was thinking the same thing –he didn't know all of the details of what happened to Anakin in the years after he returned to Tatooine to find his mother dead, but, he heard from Obi-Wan Kenobi that he had turned against the jedi knights. _So why is __**Darth Vader**__ calling himself my stepbrother –is he Anakin? How could he be? _

"I am who you once knew as Anakin," Were the first words out of Vader's mouth, leaving Owen to wonder how Vader had read his mind and what could have possibly happened to the young jedi to put him into a life-support suit, "That is all you need to know on that subject." Owen mustered up his courage and asked,

"W-w-why are you here, what do you want?"

"What do I want?" Vader repeated, "Why are you asking me this?"  
"W-w-well –"

"I can't _stand_ stuttering, by the way," Vader interrupted, then continued, "Regardless, I had a _chat_ with Obi-Wan Kenobi yesterday and I want see Luke."

"Luke?" asked Owen vaguely, his mind now falling into a state of shock.

"Most certainly not!" replied Beru fiercely, "I don't see why you should meet him now –you certainly never expressed any interest in him earlier –we have raised him."

"That is not your concern." Vader replied, his voice eerily calm, "I will be coming back tomorrow for him –if you feel the need to try anything, know that I will be watching." With that, Vader turned on his heel and left –leaving a stunned Beru and Owen Lars unable to speak.

Unfortunately, the poor couple had another challenge to face –one that had just entered the room.

"What's going on?" Luke asked, his tone a mixture of concern, curiosity and anger, "That wasn't THE Darth Vader was it?" There were about a million questions spinning around in Luke's head, right at that instant and he could tell by his Aunt and Uncle's faces that those questions would not get easy answers. "What is going on?" Luke repeated, desperate to make sense of everything.

"Well…" Uncle Owen started, then was interrupted by Beru,

"You see Luke, your father wasn't exactly who we told you he was."  
"What!" exclaimed Luke, _so, Darth Vader arrives at our house at around three in the morning, has an argument with my Aunt and Uncle and now I'm supposed to hear that my Aunt and Uncle have lied to me for all of my life? This is insane! This is… this is… I don't even know __**what **__this is –its like something out of a fairytale –maybe I'm related to royalty as well!_

"We didn't want to keep this from you but…"

"Keep this from me?!?" Luke exclaimed, beyond anger, "Keep this from me? You LIED to me for fifteen years!"

"Luke." Owen said softly, trying to calm his furious nephew, "Luke, I, just thought…"

"Thought?" Luke raved, "Thought? You didn't think –if you had, you wouldn't have lied!" Barely pausing for breath, Luke continued, his voice continuing to raise, "So, what is the big secret about my father then?"

"Luke," Owen said in reply, still trying to speak calmly, "This isn't going to be easy for you to hear…"

"Tell me!" Luke shouted, the last thread of his patience snapping.

"I…I…I mean, well…"

"_Tell me._" Luke said, in a voice so quiet it was almost a whisper, yet it was almost more intimidating than his yelling –very similar, in fact, to the tone Vader had just used on Owen.  
"Y-your father isn't dead."

"What?"

"Luke, Lord Vader is your father." It took Luke nearly a full minute to regain the capacity for speech.

"But…but…that's…that's…"

"I'm so sorry Luke." Beru said, then glanced at her husband, "**We're** so sorry –we should have told you earlier." She noticed that Luke was in no state to reply and gestured to Owen, signaling him to come with her and leave Luke alone for a while.


	5. Chapter 4

First off, thanks everyone so much for reviewing: I really appreciate your comments!

Luke and Vader finally meet in this chapter...now things can finally start getting interesting!

* * *

Vader had never been one for sitting and discussing what the weather had been like, or what was interesting in the news, or any other variants of small talk. Today certainly wasn't an exception. He stood near the door, arms crossed, looking bored out of his mind. All that changed when Luke entered the room. He had never seen his son before. To tell the truth he wasn't really sure what to do now. Still, there were harder things than dealing with a young child –he had survived them and he would survive this. Soon it would all be worth it. Luke was strong with the Force, he could feel it easily –together they would be able to defeat the Emperor. Vader smiled to himself –what a day that would be. Still, he had to deal with the present. Nodding curtly to Luke's aunt and uncle, he simply said, "Come with me Luke –we are leaving."

It took more will power then Luke thought he possessed to wave goodbye to his aunt and uncle and leave the moisture farm with Vader. _Its funny, _he thought, _yesterday I would have given anything to get off of this planet –no matter who takes me and where I am going –today, I would give anything for things to just get back to normal. Stars! What does Vader expect from me? _Still, regrets of his old life didn't stop Luke from gasping at the sight of Vader's ship. He simply couldn't help it,

"Is that one of the new _Incursion_ shuttles?" Vader slowed the speeder and stopped before turning and responding,

"Yes."

"Oh." _Is it too much to ask for him to be a little more talkative? _Luke wondered plaintively, _Or at least, could this not be so awkward? I feel like I'm trying to talk to a durasteel wall –one that's doing its best to ignore me!_

"Come." Said Vader, and led Luke into the shuttle, telling him to wait in the passenger hold. He parked the speeder in the cargo hold, then returned to the cockpit and started up the engines. Through the Force he could feel Luke's fear and excitement and he wished, not for the first time, that he knew what to do regarding his son. _I cannot doubt my purpose –I am not doing this to act as his parent –I am going to train him so he can embrace his destiny and help me destroy Palpatine. I know exactly what I am doing. _Vader almost laughed at that thought –_yeah, right. _

It was a very short trip from Tatooine's surface to the docking bay of _The Exactor_, landing the shuttle, Vader was about to exit the ship when he remembered Luke –_this is certainly going to take some getting used to_. Luke was thinking the same thing when the door opened and Vader entered, nearly making Luke jump right through the roof.

"We have landed –it is time to go."

"Right." Luke replied. What else was there to say? As he stepped out of the shuttle he was completely shocked by what he saw. They were definitely not on Couruscant. Harsh winds scoured the planet's inner atmosphere, complete with bitter-cold raindrops, some still frozen, smashing into small particles as they hit the shuttle. He could just barely make out the silhouette of a gigantic fortress in the distance. Luke simply couldn't help asking, "Where are we?" Vader turned to regard him, pausing for a moment before he replied,

"Vujin."

"Oh." Luke got the feeling that his father was not a talkative man, if he _was_ a man and not some kind of cyborg, that is. Vader led him inside the fortress-like building and Luke suddenly realized where they were. Rumors said that Vader had his own stronghold on a mysterious, barren planet –Bast Castle. It seemed that some rumors were true. _But why aren't we going to Couruscant? Why wouldn't Vader choose to go there?_

Vader glanced at his son as they entered his reclusive fortress. So far Luke had taken the news of his parentage well, many lesser beings would have succumbed to pitiful emotional outbursts –still he did have a long way to go if he was to ever become one with the Dark Side. _How dare Obi-Wan keep my son from me for all this time! _Vader thought, anger building up within him at his former master. Still things could have been worse, and, speaking of masters, Sidious still was unaware of Luke's existence, another key point to Vader's plan. Leading Luke further into his "home" he finally stopped as they arrived at a closed doorway. He addressed his son, breaking the long silence between them,

"This is where you will stay. If you require anything, there are droids that can assist you." Vader turned to leave, then noticed the confusion in his son's eyes, "I will show you around properly later –there are some things I need to attend to now. However, if you need to speak with me, either call my comlink or come and see me. I am usually either in my quarters, or downstairs." After pointing out both locations, Vader left, still feeling slightly awkward with conversing with his son. _Get a hold of yourself –he's just a boy –you can't always feel this…this…__**whatever**__ you feel when he's around if you plan on making him a Sith!_ Finally finished berating himself, Vader turned to his next task: lying to his master: the omniscient Emperor Palpatine. _Oh, this should be easy…._

Luke tentatively opened the door to his new room. Something was on his father's mind, he could tell. His eyes scanned his new room. _This place is huge! _He thought with excitement. True, it was very impersonal, with shades of grey being the primary colour scheme, but that wasn't too bad –it was better then having small piles of sand always blowing in onto the floor. He flopped down onto the bed, sinking into the soft mattress. _This I could get used to…._


	6. Chapter 5

Thanks again for all of the reviews, its good to know that you're liking the story so far.

Just a note: the TIE-hyp fighter that is mentioned later on is not a TIEx1, its just a ship that I made up.

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

"Of course my master." Vader replied, barely repressing a sigh of relief –his master had bought his excuse of ship problems and the subsequent need for repairs on Vujin. Unfortunately, he had been caught a little off guard when Palpatine had asked what in the galaxy was he doing on Tatooine, he had only barely managed to mention finding and killing Obi-Wan before Sidious became suspicious. He had been ordered back to the capital; apparently some Rebels were causing trouble again. Vader sighed, _why couldn't he find someone else to deal with all of these attacks, surely not __**all **__of the officers are that incompetent. _Still, knowing Sidious, it was more likely just a precaution to ensure that Vader couldn't plot against him –he'd be too busy. _You missed the boat on that count my master, and soon, soon, I will rule once you are dead. _

***

When Luke woke up he almost screamed. He was in a totally unfamiliar room, cold and with almost no light. This was definitely not Tatooine. Then, it all came back to him: the nighttime visit, his Aunt and Uncle's lies, Darth Vader. _So I didn't just dream it all? I actually have a father? _Just to make sure, (not that he actually believed that it would work) Luke pinched himself. Nothing. It was real all right. He climbed out of the bed, and scrutinized the room, not really fancy, but not too shabby either. Glancing out of the window, he saw a massive squall, pelting rain and hail on everything, swirling winds raking the planet's very barren rock surface. Luke was sure that he had never seen so much water, even if he combined all of his experiences from his entire life. Still half in shock, he wondered what he should do next, should he go looking for Vader? Stay in his room? Then, he remembered the comlink that his father had given him earlier on the shuttle ride here. He turned it on, and immediately noticed that there was a message, opening it, he saw his father's form appear, ghost-like, and miniature,

"Luke, the Emperor has contacted me and it appears that I have some necessary business to attend to off-planet. However, I have contacted a trustworthy officer and he will be arriving on Vujin shortly, assuming that you are reading this at around oh-eight-hundred." Just like that, the message ended abruptly. Luke sighed, this message just confirming the fact that his father was not one for words. He checked the time, and saw that it was 6:00 in the morning, realizing that he had to wait a whole two hours all by himself. It appeared that he would be pretty lonely, after all his friends had been almost over-talkative. _I wonder what this "trusted officer"_ _is like. He probably will hate the fact that he's been pulled away from duty to baby-sit me, at least I would…_

***

Half-way across the galaxy, Sergeant Napo Wallen was thinking the exact same thing as Luke Skywalker. _I'm and Imperial Stormtrooper for star's sake! I can't believe that I'm supposed to play nursemaid for some __**kid**__ from the outer rim. _Still, whether Wallen liked it or not, Vader had given the order, and so he must be obeyed. It wasn't like Wallen didn't like his commanding officer, on the contrary, he loved serving under Lord Vader –after all, what other officer was willing to go right into the thick of battle, side by side with his troops? What officer was able to out fly the best TIE-pilot in the entire _Empire_ on**manual?** All of the stories about Vader killing subordinates left, right, and center was really simply rumor. True, if you did make a critical error, you were telepathically strangled to death (a little creepy, that) but, overall, the officers that did meet an untimely end truly deserved it. Their blunders had cost or threatened the lives of hundreds of personnel, and frankly, the Empire was better without them. Still, that didn't change the fact that he was supposed to _baby-sit_. Although, Wallen did have to admit to a slight bit of curiosity as to why Vader, of all people, was taking interest with a kid. With this question in mind, Wallen disembarked on Vujin, leaving his TIE-hyp (a regular TIE that was hyperspace enabled) parked in a hanger full of almost every single type of ship imaginable. _Wow, everyone always wondered if Vader had a hobby –I guess he must collect ships._ Walking further, Wallen spied some tools lying next to what looked like the guts of an engine, _No way! He fixes them too! I sure wish that I could do that…_ He was jolted out of his thoughts when he felt that he was being watched. He spun, only to lock gazes with a short, blonde-haired boy with ice-blue eyes.


	7. Chapter 6

Luke had heard a noise in the hanger earlier, and had immediately gone to check it out. After spending two whole hours all by himself with practically only one room that he was allowed to enter, he was going crazy. The man who had just arrived had locked gazes with him, and clearly expected Luke to have looked away. Luke didn't. After a whole minute of their staring contest passed, the man finally dropped his stare and spoke,

"Are you Luke Skywalker?"

"Yeah, I guess, who are you?"

"I am," the man said, straightening, "Sergeant Napo Wallen, of the 501st legion, at your service."

"Okay, um, hi?"

"Hello yourself." There was a pause, and the two stood there in silence, again, Wallen broke the impasse.

"Er, you wouldn't know why Lord Vader has you here, would you?" Luke looked at him, clearly offended, so he tried to soften his question, "I mean, Lord Vader just doesn't really seem like the type to…you know… um…"

"Take in random children?" Luke clarified, saving the stuttering sergeant.

"Well, yes." Luke sighed, wondering what he should say –would Vader really want him to tell the truth about us? _Vader's not here and he didn't leave me any instructions on the subject. I'll bet that this Wallen guy is going to be here for a while, so why not? _Deciding on his course of action, Luke grinned,

"You know that you can't tell anyone else…"  
"Of course, you have my word."

"I'm his son."

"You're…you're…you're… WHAT!" Wallen stammered, shocked past the realms of rational thought.

"I'm his son." Luke replied, calmly, as if he was discussing the latest Holonet news broadcast. Wallen just looked at him, opening and closing his mouth as if he was trying to find the right words to describe the whirlwind that his mind had become. _Well, at least this explains why Lord Vader wanted to have this kid looked after, but still…Vader having a son? Since when? And why does he contact me now? Shouldn't he have been living with Luke for a while? Shouldn't have news gotten out?_

"You know," Luke said, interrupting Wallen's thoughts, "Its not really good manners to be speculating about the personal lives of other people"  
"And what do you mean by that?" Wallen asked, _he can't read my mind, can he?_

"Well, I don't really think that I'm reading your mind, more just your emotions –but –"

"Hang, on, you mean that you can read my mind?"

"Essentially, yes, I guess," Luke decided to elaborate when Wallen just stared at him, a combination of fear and awe spelled out on his face, "Look, I was always able to do it, even when I was younger, I don't know how or why, and its definitely not intentional. Sorry, but that's all I can tell you."

"Oh."

"Hey, do you want me to show you around? I've been wandering around and I think that I've mainly figured out where everything is."

"What do you mean by that? You haven't always stayed here?"

"Well, actually, until yesterday, I thought that my father was dead."

"You thought that Darth Vader was dead?"

"No, you see, my Aunt and Uncle had lied to me and had told me that my father was somebody else."

"Oh, okay," said Wallen, then considered what Luke had said, _Man, he must have had a tough time, I guess that his life will be better now, maybe. I can't even imagine what it would be like to be raised by Vader…_ Then he remembered what Luke had said about reading minds, and he decided to steer onto a different topic, "I guess I'll take you up on that tour."

"Sure, this place is nice, although I do have to say that his planet would not be a fun place to live on otherwise."

"Are you always this talkative?" Wallen asked, smiling in spite of himself.

"No way!" Luke replied quickly, "I normally don't say much at all, its just, well, I haven't seen anyone in a while, and…Vader's not the easiest person to have a conversation with."

"Oh." Wallen could sympathize with that –heck, he had been so scared of Vader the first time that he'd seen the Dark Lord he'd almost left the briefing room when Vader entered.


	8. Chapter 7

Far, on the opposite side of the galaxy, Darth Vader stood contemplating the imminent invasion. Although, Zaloris, was considered by many to be solely an Imperial world, several Rebel factions had risen up and had overthrown the Imperial Governor. The leaders had the gall to exchange the planet's freedom from the Empire in exchange for the Governor's life. _Not likely, _Vader thought, _they really all must be fools to expect the Empire to agree to that!_ Still, the terms were so lopsided, that Vader was almost positive that it was a trap of sorts, spearheaded by the actual Rebel Alliance. But, even if it was a trap, he simply had no choice but to pretend to fall for it. Suddenly, an un-bidden memory appeared in his mind, '"I sense Count Dooku," stated a young Anakin, "I sense a trap," Obi-Wan retorted, to his former padawan. "Next move?" Inquired Anakin. Obi-Wan simply grinned, "Spring the trap."'

Quashing the memories of his past, Vader addressed his immediate subordinate,

"Admiral Ozzel, give the orders to half the fleet. This rebellion is a trap."  
"Yes my Lord," Ozzel said, saluting, "Of course." As Ozzel proceeded to do as he was bidden, Vader noticed something.

"Admiral, why is this ship a part of the reserve group?" The Admiral visibly paled,

"Well my Lord, I had thought that…"  
"No, I don't care what you were thinking. We must make this look like we are falling for the trap –when has my ship ever hung back?"

"Well, sir –"

"Be silent. We will lead the assault, any questions?"

"No, none, my Lord"

"Good," then, deciding on a course of action, I turned to a commander, "Commander, ready my fighter."

"My Lord?"

"You do understand common, do you not?"

"Y-y-yes."

"Well, then, proceed." Obviously wanting to object, but refraining to do so, the commander left the bridge. Vader could sense that Ozzel was equally opposed to the idea of Vader leaving the command ship. _He doesn't want to have to lead the attack –he would rather that I did. _Vader almost smiled, amused by the fact that his officer was such a coward, _Oh, he'll have to go –and soon. _

Back at Bast Castle, Luke was quickly becoming bored out of his mind…again. He had almost talked Wallen to death, the stormtrooper managing to escape on the pretext that hyperspace travel made him slightly tired and he wanted to sleep. Luke was wandering aimlessly through the immense hallways, able to see his reflection follow him on the polished black walls. He smiled ruefully: if Vader had a favorite colour, there was no question as to what colour that would be. He finally ended up, once again, in the ship hanger. He had already been there, just staring at the different ships in awe and wondering just how painful death would be if Vader caught him touching them. He had still been undecided when Wallen arrived, providing a small distraction. Still, Luke's conscience was no match whatsoever to a hanger full of customized ships, and his resolve to not get in trouble crumbled. He slowly crept towards the ship that had caught his eye. It was yellow, which certainly wasn't an ordinary colour for a fighter, yet was sculpted into the unmistakable streamlined shape of a long-range fighter. Well it was no TIE, but Luke was hooked. _He won't mind if I just __**look**__ at the engine…_

Zaloris hadn't really given much of a fight once their soldiers realized that their trap was a dud. Once the locals had retreated, the Alliance was forced to do so as well, but, not before Vader was able to hammer more than half of the Rebel fleet into scrap metal. Still, as he landed his TIE, he couldn't help the feeling that something was missing. He had always loved to fly, but, over the years, he came to realize that part of that love was the love for the way that his master had hated it. "Flying's for droids…" _Perhaps, that's all I am, a droid constructed by Sidious to do his bidding. _Barely glancing at Ozzel, Vader covered the distance of the bridge in a few long strides, and promptly holed himself up in his quarters.

Finally coming out of his meditative trance, Vader became aware of a presence waiting impatiently outside of the door. The man nearly jumped right out of his skin as the door opened suddenly, Vader standing inside, staring at him.

"What is it?"

"Umm," the man said, trying to get over his shock, "The Admiral wanted me to tell you that we have arrived in Couruscant space and would like to know if you have any further orders."

"No," Vader replied, "He may begin the landing process."

"Yes my Lord."

In the bridge, one the techs noticed a red light blinking –a ship was leaving. Following procedure, he immediately contacted it,

"Unidentified fighter, change your course right now, and return to the Executor. Repeat, unidentified fighter, please return to the Executor and wait until docking has commenced."  
"I'm afraid that I cannot do that," came the reply, causing the tech to nearly jump out of his skin, uniform and all.

"L-l-lord V-v-vader! I didn't…I didn't…."

"Be quiet this instant! You will not record my departure, nor will you mention it to a single soul. Understood?"

"Y-y-yes sir."

"Good." Vader said, maneuvering his fighter for the jump into hyperspace.


	9. Chapter 8

Hey, sorry about not updating yesterday: life has been so hectic! Thanks again for the reviews, they're all really encouraging, thanks!

* * *

Luke, who had already "just looked" at the engine of the yellow fighter and was now completely immersed in its guts, inspecting its construction and what not. He was so absorbed that he didn't notice Vader docking his ship, not too far away. _What in the galaxy is Luke doing? _Vader wondered, _And more importantly, what is he doing with my ship? _

Still oblivious, Luke detachedly noticed a weird sound, _I wonder what that could be…it almost sounds like Vader's breathing…. Oh no!_ He spun, and jumped at least fifty feet in the air when he saw that his father had, indeed caught him in the act. He immediately started apologizing in a rush of words,

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do anything, and I promise that it wont happen again…I just was looking and I didn't actually do anything… and I honestly didn't –"

"Silence." Vader said, and Luke promptly shut his mouth, waiting for his sentence. "Now, what were you doing?"

"Well, I was sort of…well…you see…ummm –"

"You were looking at the modifications on the hyperdrive capabilities, correct?"

"Yes… hey! How did you know that?"

"I was standing behind you for at least a minute before you noticed. You really need to become more aware of things around you."

"That's not what I meant –I mean, how did you know what it was that I was looking at?" Luke asked, desperately hoping that perhaps they had something in common.

"Shouldn't I know? I did the modifications." Vader replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

"Really?" Luke said enthusiastically, and then continued, his earlier fear of his father forgotten, "How did you do it? I mean, installing a hyperdrive is easy enough, but, this one is triggered when the engine reaches a certain speed and…" Luke paused in his tirade, needing to know just one more thing, "Am I in trouble?"

"In trouble?" Vader asked, his voice unreadable, "Before I answer that, I would just like you to know that I am considerably busy and have some things that must be attended to. Therefore, I am only going to answer one of your questions: choose wisely."

"Umm… never mind…. How did you do the modifications?" Vader almost laughed at this, but decided to answer.

"It was incredibly simple really, all that I did was to hook up the hyperdrive which I had taken out of a long-range fighter that already allowed for hyperspace jumps without pre-calculation, and set its initiation to engage when the fighter hits its fastest speed –a situation that would only happen when the pilot is desperate."

"Cool!" Luke replied, excited that he and his father shared something in common that they could talk about, "Hey, why don't you have them mass-produced and use them instead of the TIEx1 fighters?"

"One reason," Vader replied, "The pilot absolutely **must** have the force in order to sense when the ship is about to make the jump and to discern whether the path is clear or not. Ordinary pilots couldn't do it." Predictably, this only gave Luke more questions,

"What's the force?"

"No one's every told you about the force?" Vader asked in disbelief, "Not even Kenobi?"  
"You mean old Ben?" Luke clarified, wondering how Vader could know Ben, "No, uncle Owen never liked for him to be around –almost like he was scared that he'd tell me stuff that I wasn't supposed to know."

"I see," Vader said, pausing for a moment to consider what to do next, "Well, I suppose that this must be remedied. I think that my business can wait a bit longer so that I can explain this properly. Come." Vader led Luke down into the very basement of the building until they reached a gigantic room, completely devoid of any decoration or furniture. "Now, you are never to come down here alone, do you understand?" Vader asked sternly first.

"Yes." Luke said quickly, excited.

"Now, the force. The force is essentially energy. Its what makes everything in the galaxy happen the way that it happens. Some say that it is what created the very planets and stars in the first place. Some people, like you and me, have great reserves of the force living inside of us, by way of midichlorians. Because of the midichlorians, we can do things that ordinary humans can't: sensing emotions, anticipating what will happen before it does, moving and manipulating objects." Vader paused, wanting to make sure that Luke understood everything: not that he had to, Luke was staring at him with rapt attention. "I do believe that I should mention that there is a perceived 'light side' and a 'dark side' to the force. The jedi used the 'light' while the sith use the 'dark'. There is really no difference, beyond the essential point that the light side is not used –it simply flows through the user. The dark side is when the user literally manipulates its energies and uses that energy as they will. Consequently, the dark side is slightly more powerful than the light."

"So are you a sith?" Luke asked.

"Yes. And so can you, if you wish to train."

"Really?" Luke said, his mind whizzing through all of this information at about a million miles per second, "So the reason that I could do all of those weird things was because I had the force?"

"Probably, what weird things?"

"Well," Luke began tentatively, "I was always able to beat all of my friends when we raced and they always said that it was impossible for me to react to anything at the speed that I was going. There was probably some other stuff too, but this one time, I was helping uncle Owen clean up our garage, when this box of parts and stuff was about to fall down onto his head but, just as it was about to hit him, it sort of stopped in midair and just hung there for a while before it fell. He sure got mad at me, but even after I told him that I hadn't done anything he still wouldn't believe me. Do you think that he knew?" Vader was silent for a moment, his mask tilted so that his eyes seemed to bore into Luke's own, he finally answered,

"Yes, I think he did know, but he likely didn't truly understand, causing him to become scared of the things that you could do. It's surprising that you were able to use the force so much without any training –that's uncommon, especially when it extends into your youth. Most force-sensitive babies can use the force unconsciously, but don't use it once their mind is able to deal with more things."

"Is that bad?" Luke asked.

"Is what bad?"

"Is it bad that I'm so unusual?"

"No," Vader said, his voice containing the most warmth that it had so far, "No, it isn't bad that you're unusual –it just means that you are very strong with the force. That is, if you are accepting my offer to train."

"Of course I am!" Luke replied, seemingly relieved that his capabilities weren't "bad".

"Good," Vader said, "However, we will have to begin tomorrow, for I do have to contact some people and get new plans finalized."  
"Okay." Luke said to his father's back as Vader swept out of the room. Practically skipping, he climbed the stairs up to his room, reveling in the joy of finally having a conversation with his father. _For a while, I thought that he had hated me, or something! I guess that he's just doesn't say much when you're discussing certain things. Maybe this wont be so bad, having Darth Vader for a father!_


	10. Chapter 9

In his own rooms, Vader had just completed his work –contacting several annoyingly incompetent Admirals and threatening them into compliance with the newest scheme to destroy the alliance after writing up those very plans –when he remembered that he had to talk to Wallen. _Oh great, _he thought, _this little "chat" is going to be just as awful as talking to those fools! If it's even possible, this is going to be worse! _Still, putting it off wasn't going to help anything. Pulling out his comlink with a groan, he asked Wallen to report to his quarters.

Surprisingly enough, the conversation with Wallen went rather well, and for some reason, the stormtrooper didn't feel too annoyed at being called away from regular duties. After all, from what Vader had seen of Luke so far, the poor stormtrooper would be busy…very busy. Having made up his mind, Vader decided to stay with Luke for the next couple of days, teaching him about the ways of the force. Stars knew that it couldn't be put off, and besides, Vader could always simply tell Sidious that he had been meditating, right?

* * *

The morning dawned, bright and sunny –on every single planet in the system besides Vujin, which remained, as always, dark and stormy. Luke, like most teenagers, still wasn't awake and certainly wasn't pleased when he was awakened by some rather insistent knocking, being loudly pounded upon his door. Still half-asleep, he managed to mumble a garbled response,

"Huh? Wh-what?" There was a pause in the knocking, then the door slid open to reveal a towering figure in black armor.

"You do realize that it is ten hundred hours, do you not?"

"Umm…"

"You did want to learn about the force, yes?"

"Yea—" Luke began, then yawned, "Yeah."

"Well, you do not learn about the force from me exclusively when it suits you. I am prepared to train you now, that is, if you can somehow get ready within the next five minutes." With that ultimatum, Vader exited Luke's room, leaving him to do as he would. Sitting bolt upright in bed, Luke practically jumped out and began to throw clothes on. In exactly four minutes and thirty seconds, he burst out of his room, with water still dripping off of his face from a quick dousing, in order to try and shock himself awake.

Vader almost laughed when he saw his son come barreling out of his room, his face wet, wearing clothes that were clearly thrown on without a glance –dark blue pants with a clashing green shirt –and his hair still standing up in disarray. "You made it." The sith said when he finally trusted his voice enough to speak.

"Yes." Luke replied, ruefully, knowing what he must look like.

"Well, then, if you're up, let's begin."

* * *

I'm really sorry about the shortness of this particular chapter: I am just sooo busy right now, that my stories are taking the back-seat. I do promise that there will be more this weekend!

Again, thanks for all of the comments and reviews


	11. Chapter 10

For the rest of the morning, Vader led his son through a difficult and tiring sequence of exercises. He hadn't really planned anything out before hand and certainly wasn't going to use the same lessons that the jedi had taught him, however, there were very few purely sith lessons that could be introduced to beginners.

Therefore, Vader was mixing his two opposite educations in the force in order to teach Luke. It was apparent that despite his unorthodox teaching methods, Luke was performing admirably. He was very obviously strong with the force, and was a definite natural. After having the theory of moving objects explained to him, Luke was almost immediately able to manipulate small things, and soon after that, progressed to larger things that would have normally been part of an older padawan's repertoire –not a beginner's.

The only thing that Luke's abilities didn't showcases themselves as excellent was in foresight. His reflexes were above-average, but, years of being told to ignore his instincts had certainly taken their toll on his abilities and he often succumbed to self-doubt.

"Focus Luke," Vader said, "Don't over-think this. Just trust your feelings."

"I'm trying," Luke replied, "Its just that I'm not sure if I'm making it up, or if I really can sense something."

"It is not your fault –had you been brought up properly, you would have been taught to trust your feelings. It will come in time, but you need to practice." Vader said, sensing that his son was getting frustrated, "Rest now, and try to practice meditation on your own: it will help."

* * *

Hello again: its groveling time!

I'm so sorry but I think that it is just impossible for me to even consider working on my stories until winter break because, as it is, I'm practically getting no sleep.

I apologize again: I love this story so much, but it will be put on hold until (at least) after Christmas.

Sorry again - patient you must be, if want to read more you do!


	12. Chapter 11

And so, the lessons continued at an almost frenzied pace for the next two days. Vader knew that he would have to return to his master very soon, in order to negate any suspicion that Palpatine might have. After all, he fully well remembered what had happened when he had tried to train his own apprentice before and he certainly didn't want to revisit it. Luke's progress was truly astonishing –it almost seemed like he _ate_ the knowledge, instead of simply learning it. Vader had just informed his master that he would be returning to Couruscant the next day, and thankfully it didn't appear as if Palpatine suspected anything. "Luke?" Vader said, entering the boy's room, "I have told the Emperor that I will be back on Couruscant tomorrow –hopefully it won't be for very long."

"Oh, okay." Came the emotionless reply. Vader didn't say anything to this, nor did he leave –it was painfully obvious that there was something on Luke's mind. Luke finally looked up from studying the floor, and saw that Vader had no intention of leaving any time soon. "Sorry," he finally said, trying to make amends, "I guess that I'm just kind of tired."

"Tired." Vader repeated, skeptically.

"Yes."

"Really."

"Okay, no," Luke admitted, then remarked thoughtfully, "It was so much easier to use that on uncle Owen."

"I'm sure." Vader replied dryly, "Now, are you going to tell me the reason for your apparent 'tiredness' or am I going to have to probe your mind?"

"Look," Luke said, "Its nothing."

"You have three seconds."

"Honestly, it doesn't matter!" Luke protested.

"Two."

"Its not like you'd tell me anyways!"

"One." Vader said, to which he was met with silence. _It's almost easier to interrogate rebels!_ He thought to himself, _At least they're so afraid of me torturing them that they finally say _something_ pertinent!_

"Zer-"

"Okay!" Luke finally said, "Don't 'probe my mind' –I'll tell you."

"Proceed."

"I guess that I was just wondering… well…"

"You're just as bad as my officers with stuttering. If you are going to speak –then do so. Otherwise, I am busy."

"Fine!" Luke said, exasperated, "I just wanted to know, well, about my mother." Vader stiffened, and for the next full minute, the sole sound in the room was Vader's respirator, taking its regulated, whooshing breaths. After what seemed like an eternity, Vader finally spoke,

"She is gone –there is no point in discussing what has been done." And with that, the dark lord swept out of the room.

* * *

I'm back!

Sorry again for the really long wait. I'll do my best for the next couple of days to keep updating, but... life is life.

Anyways, as always, thanks for all of your support and the reviews. Hope you liked this!


	13. Chapter 12

A new chapter! Yay! I hope you like it!

* * *

_I knew that I shouldn't have asked!_ Luke thought to himself, _if he had wanted to talk about her, then he would have without me having to ask. Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! _He considered trying to apologize for bringing the subject up, but thought better of it. _He was pretty angry –it'd probably be better to leave him alone for a while. _Trying to put the incident out of his mind, Luke settled into an uneasy, fitful sleep.

Meanwhile, Vader was pacing a grove into the floor of his quarters. He certainly wasn't about to start talking about _her_ to Luke, however, he probably shouldn't have snapped at Luke so readily. Nonetheless, this didn't make Vader enthusiastic or willing to go and apologize for loosing his temper. _After all, Darth Vader does not go apologizing for his temper. I'm a __**Sith Lord**__ for star's sake! _Deciding that the situation could not be helped and that he really should leave Vujin if he was to arrive on Couruscant on time to suit Palpatine's whims. Stopping to give Wallen a few curt commands and to tell the stormtrooper to inform Luke of his departure, Vader prepped his ship and soon had left the stormy planet behind. He was so preoccupied by the earlier argument and by the problem of explaining his secretive behavior to his master that he neglected to sense the disturbance in the force, steadily growing in strength.

Not long afterwards, Luke awoke with a start. He scanned the darkness of his room, eyes questing for some reason behind his inner disquiet. Something simply didn't feel right. Suddenly, just like warning bells going off in his head, he knew that he had to move, and fast. Pitching himself forwards and somersaulting off of the bed, he managed to narrowly avoid stun blast aimed for his head. Staying low, he tried to find his attacker. Despite the room's darkness he was able to see a dark figure coming towards him, blaster out and ready for another opportunity. _What is going on? _He wondered, while trying to keep the bed between him and his attacker's sightline. _Who is this person, and what in the galaxy are they trying to accomplish? _Finally, his attacker managed to grab him, restraining his arms and legs quickly and expertly, then clamping a gloved hand over his mouth. He managed to garble out, "What do you want?" as he was dragged out of his window, his assailant not speaking a word. They finally shoved him into a compartment of a small, customized ship and closed the door. He was alone for only a few minutes before they came back.

"Okay, look." Said the voice, sounding without a doubt, female, "I don't want to hurt you right now, so I don't want any funny little force tricks or any escape attempts –got it?" Luke nodded, "Good. After all, the Emperor does want to meet you rather badly –it would be a shame if I had to kill you beforehand."

"The Emperor?" Luke said, astonished, "Doesn't he work _with_ Vader?"  
"They're sith. They only work together unless there's a better way. Don't ask. It doesn't make sense to me either."

"Who are you, then?"  
"Need to know basis, and you certainly don't need to know." With that, the door swished closed and Luke was left alone in the dark.


	14. Author's Note

Hi guys!

Sorry that I've been gone for, well, forever.

Life is sooooo busy right now, therefore, I am letting you know that I will probably not update until closer to summertime.

Apologies for not letting you know sooner,

Champion of Villains


	15. Chapter 13

After a few minutes in solitude, Luke was certain that he was going to go stir-crazy if the flight to Couruscant lasted much longer. His head was filled with unanswered questions that were begging his mind for solutions that he couldn't provide. Paramount in his mind, however, was his father. _What is he going to think when he finds me gone?_ Luke wondered, _And what can he do if he finds out what has happened anyways? The Emperor is more powerful than him –I don't think that Vader would actually give up his life as Palpatine's second in command, simply to "rescue" me, when I might not even need to be rescued. Maybe Vader wants me to be here. Maybe he is in on this plan, but he just didn't think that I'd want to go…._ Luke shook his head –he certainly didn't know what Vader would do, and thinking of increasingly obscure possibilities wasn't going to help anything. _If only I knew what exactly the Emperor wanted with me!_

***

Within the precise moment that Vader's ship exited hyperspace he knew something was wrong. The Force practically reeked of foreboding and danger to come, but beyond that, Vader couldn't sense a single, definite thing. He had learned long ago to recognize when his master was cloaking things in the Force, and this was certainly one of those times. _This has happened before, _He tried to tell himself, _nothing went particularly wrong then… perhaps this is nothing more than an experiment to him –perhaps he is simply working on some new Force-skill that he doesn't want me to know about. It wouldn't be the first time._ Deciding that the only reason for his "jitters" was a certain son mixed with a guilty conscience, Vader cut power to his ship's engines and entered Couruscant's atmosphere.

***

Close by, Luke was unknowingly sensing the same thing as his father. For the first time in his life, he felt partly blind –like he could see things when he was looking right at them, but his entire range of peripheral vision has been simply snuffed out. He was fairly certain that the ship had recently landed and that no one had left the ship –seeing as he never heard the hatch open or close. He wondered what the strange pilot was waiting for, but couldn't imagine a reason for just sitting parked _anywhere_. His already strained patience was fraying by increasing amounts as each second passed. He thought about his father –perhaps, he could try and talk to him, through the Force. His father had mentioned this ability to him during one of the training sessions –but Vader had neglected to teach it to him, simply because Vader said that he could already sense his feelings. Apparently, Vader thought this was enough for now. Currently, Luke disagreed. He closed his eyes, and pictured Vader in his mind, _"Father? Father! Hello?"_ Nothing. Luke tried again –yelling with his mind, _"FATHER?" _Still nothing. _"Look! I'm sorry about asking you about my mother –I won't do it ever again!" _Nothing. If Vader was angry with him, Luke figured that he would at least be able to feel his father's anger. _Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. _Luke thought to himself, _After all, its not like talking on the Holonet is difficult –maybe I'm trying too hard. _He tried to relax. It was really hard. He was worried, scared, and full of nervous energy. He tried to think of something else –of some_where_ else and finally managed it. Thinking of dusk on Tatooine, and breathing slowly, Luke could feel everything, just like he normally could. _"Father?" _He asked softly, calmly –after all, there was no rush, not hurry, just The Force. _**"Luke?"**_ Thrilled, Luke realized that he had managed it! He continued, _"Father! I don't know where I am and –" _Then, abruptly, Vader was gone.

* * *

Hi! I'm Back! Sorry about the hugely long wait.

Okay, so this is my plan: I will not abandon this story, however, there is not way for me to do regular updates. I am going to finish writing this story and then post all of the finished chapters all at once. (I have the ending in my head, but I need to work out exactly how to get there).

However, I have some other story beginnings that I have worked on, as they pop into my head. None of them are anywhere _near_ being finished, and some of them may be abandoned, but let me know if you would be interested in me posting them. (Harry Potter, Dark Knight, and Star Wars would be their universes).

Thanks for being so very patient with me,

Champion of Villains


	16. Chapter 14

"_**Luke!"**_ Vader said again through the Force, _**"Luke!"**_ But, Luke was gone now, nonexistent in the Force. _Besides, who knows who could be listening…_ Vader thought. If all of the years Vader spent training under Sidious had only taught him one thing –that one thing was caution, almost to the point of paranoia. Vader knew one thing for certain: Luke was on Couruscant, and Vader had no idea why. Panic was mounting within him, and Vader tried searching the Force again for the presence of his son… nothing. _What should I do,_ he wondered,_ For all I know, my Mater is behind this, and he may already think I've betrayed him. He might be killing Luke this very second. _That thought settled it: Vader had to ensure that Palpatine was not harming Luke, and to do _that_ Vader had to go into the lion's den. However, Vader was no longer a person who's only strategy was to rush in blindly –he had a plan,

"Wallen? Its Vader –how long will it take you to get to Couruscant?"

***

Luke felt his world going from black to dark grey, and then to lighter grey, and then everything was _way_ too bright. He felt dizzy and nauseous and something else was distinctly _wrong_.

"You still alive?" Came the voice.

"Maybe." Luke replied weakly, lifting his head to ascertain the position of his captor, "What'd you do to me?"

"I knocked you out with a dart, pumped you full of a poison that should be making you fell pretty weak right now, and then brought a Ysalamiri on board –_that _one is really starting to bug me."

"A ysama-what?" Luke asked, his vision still incredibly blurry.

"A Ysalamiri –it severs your connection with the Force."

"Oh."

"Well, now that you're awake, my Master says its time for you to meet him."

"Who's your Master?" Luke asked, not expecting an answer.

"Someone who'll be _very_ mad if we're late –come on." And with that, Luke's captor stepped forward, picked him up with very little difficulty, and slung him over her back. All Luke could see was the black bodysuit she was wearing and the back of her red ponytail.

"Who _are_ you?" He asked as they disembarked from the ship.

"I'm Mara Jade." And then she stuck him with another dart, and his world went black once more.

***

Wallen didn't like the situation. He didn't like it one little bit. And he'd been through some tough stuff –heavy action against the rebels, covert missions in hostile territory, even some piloting missions, and truth be told Wallen really didn't enjoy piloting. But _this_. This was bad.

"So let me get this straight my Lord," Wallen said, his incredulity outweighing his tact, "You want _me_ to come to Couruscant _by myself_ and then help you steal your son back from _The EMPEROR_ of the entire –"

"Theoretically yes Wallen," Vader cut in, "I am not certain that the Emperor is behind this kidnapping, however, if he is –I need you to get Luke off planet while I distract Palpatine."

"Right. Sure. Okay. No problem. Only its TREASON!"  
"I _am_ your commanding officer."

"Yeah, and the Emperor is only _your_ commanding officer." Wallen said, still struggling to grasp at _something_. In the back of his mind, Wallen was shocked Vader hadn't killed him yet.

"Yes he is," Vader replied stoically, "And perhaps I am being unfair –if you feel it is your duty, please report this conversation to the Emperor." Wallen considered this for a moment,

"With all due respect my Lord –forget that. I'm with you."

"Good."

***

Luke awoke completely disoriented. He was in a large room, ornately decorated, but with a sinister feeling nonetheless. He slowly rose, his head spinning, and his vision still slightly blurred. He could tell that whatever was taking away his connection with the Force, was still working against him.

"So… you are awake," Came a quietly malevolent voice, practically dripping hatred from every syllable, "I've been waiting a long time to meet you young Skywalker… I have heard _so much…_" Luke's vision finally cleared –it was exactly as he feared –he was in the presence of Emperor Palpatine.


	17. Chapter 15

Vader's head was spinning as he rushed through the corridors of the Imperial Palace. Wallen was on his way, but if Palpatine really did have Luke, Vader knew that he didn't stand much of a chance. Suddenly, like the light rushing in through an opened window, Luke appeared in the Force once again. Quite nearby in fact. So nearby that Luke was practically in the throne room….

Vader doubled his pace and hoped that he would not be too late.

***

With the Ysalamiri gone, Luke could feel the Force once again –he could sense his father nearby, and coming closer –yet, almost overpowering, was the proverbial black hole that must be Palpatine. Mara Jade was standing nearby his throne, with her own presence in the Force, looking coolly at him. On the Emperor's other side was a woman, older than Mara, who was looking at Luke like he was a bug that needed crushing. She had auburn hair, brown eyes, and the carefully blank face of a politician –but Luke did not recognize her. Palpatine himself was sitting on his throne, clad all in black, and almost swallowed up by a shadow. Red Guards blocked the doorway, and stood by the Emperor as well; clearly there was no way out.

"It seems that your father is opposed to us meeting," Palpatine began, "A shame really… he was _such_ a useful apprentice." Luke glared at the Emperor, scared and terribly angry at the same time,

"You can't kill him." The Emperor cackled at this,

"Can't I Skywalker?" And then with more malice, "I _made_ him." At this remark, the doors burst open and Vader was beside Luke.

"Lord Vader." Palpatine said slowly, "How nice of you to join us –we were just talking about you."

"My Master," Vader began.

"How _dare_ you call me that!" Palpatine said, rising from the throne, "After the evidence of your plot has been delivered into my hands."

"There was no plot," Vader said evenly, although Luke could feel the fear radiating from his father, "I had only just discovered Luke, and was preparing him to join us both."

"The Sith are limited to two." Palpatine replied contemptuously.

"Then why was Jade trained?"

"She is not a Sith –"

"Exactly." Vader said, cutting the Emperor off. Palpatine looked shocked that someone would have the audacity to interrupt him, and then recovered.

"So…" The Emperor began, his voice slowly building in both volume and sarcasm, "If you would perhaps _permit_ me to clarify this _misunderstanding_…. You discovered Anakin's son, off somewhere in the Outer Rim, and decided not to tell me about him, correct?" Vader said nothing, and Palpatine continued, walking towards his apprentice, "Now, the thought of _rebellion_ against your Master was _never_ in your head… you just wanted to train your son so that he could aid the Empire through his talents with the Force?" By now, the Emperor was fast approaching Luke, but surprisingly, Vader stepped between the two. A slight smile played across Palpatine's mutilated face at this gesture, and he continued, "So, in the end, you were _completely _loyal to your Master as always, and only wanted to contribute your offspring to the cause? Is that it?"

The tension in the room was audible –the only noise was Vader's respirator going in, and out… in and out. Finally, Vader spoke,

"That is correct, my Master." The Emperor leered at this,

"Good. In that case, young Skywalker will remain here, on Couruscant, and you will return to your duties." For a moment, Vader's breath caught, and Luke noticed his hand clench into a fist. But then, the rhythmic breathing resumed, and the hand fell limp once more,

"Yes my Master." Vader replied in a monotone, clearly wanting to say more, then nodded slightly to Luke and left the room. Luke was alone.

* * *

So I was feeling really inspired today, and I thought that I ought to get some updates done while I should have been doing work.

Poor Luke and Vader... I guess I really felt like heaping woe on them.

Congrats to everyone who guessed Mara Jade -It was kind of obvious, I know, but we also have a new mystery figure... an OC of mine.

The story isn't over yet... and as always let me know what you think! May the Force be with you all.

- Champion of Villains


	18. Chapter 16

_Curse him!_ Thought Vader as he stalked out of the Emperor's throne room, rage coursing through his body. _How is it that Palpatine manages to take everything from me –and merely gives me meaningless trifles in return?_ Everything in Vader had been screaming at him to not let the Emperor take Luke, and yet Luke was with Palpatine, and Vader was alone… again. _My entire family has been stolen from me, and I have been powerless to stop it. No matter how much power I gain, somehow I always loose them. _Vader continued along the corridors of the Imperial Palace, his anger no more abated, but his mind somewhat clearer. _Even if Palpatine has taken my son, that does not mean that he will hold onto Luke forever –I can reclaim him… and perhaps overthrow that _disease_ in the process._

The Emperor was laughing. Laughing to himself at Vader's cowardliness –so much for the "Hero with No Fear". Vader had come so far from when Palpatine first knew young Anakin. The Emperor could sense the anger and outrage coursing through Vader –and still sensed it now. This was true power: the power to rip apart a life, while the broken one did nothing but bend his knee. But in his deepest soul, Palpatine knew that he was, in fact, disappointed. While he had just obtained a new, and very powerful apprentice, the Emperor knew that training Luke would be difficult. And while Vader was furious, Palpatine sensed in him something new… something _dangerous_. For Vader was not just angry –he was also devoted to his son. Vader was becoming weak. The old Darth Vader would have fought his master over Luke –he would have at least put up a fight before letting his master take the boy. But this Vader –this Vader _cared_ too much. The light was starting to sneak through the cracks of his black heart.

The second that Vader left the room, Luke was accosted by two red guards, along with Mara Jade, who all lead him through the winding hallways of the Emperor's palace. He was shaking with emotion, his mind unable to process thought, or logic. He felt numb, and angry all at the same time. _How could father do this? He left me to the Emperor! He _left _me. I thought that he cared…. But did I _know_ that he cared? For all I know, he just wanted me as his apprentice. For my power –just like the Emperor does. What does the Emperor want with me anyways? He knows that I'll never join him –he must know that I won't be his new apprentice. And he certainly must know that I'll _never_ kill my father for him. Never. _

"Hey, are you listening?" Came Mara Jade's voice, interrupting Luke's thoughts.

"What?" Luke asked, while she sighed heavily.

"This is where you stay. Standard rules: no leaving, no trying to escape, no getting into trouble in general, etcetera. Got it?"

"Sure."

"Good." Mara said, then pushed Luke in the door, and shut it behind him. She hadn't walked more than three steps, when she was accosted.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Came an outraged voice.

"Why should I answer to you?" Countered Mara, "You're nobody."

"You gave Sidious _another_ apprentice –as if he didn't have enough already. You know, I think it's a game to him," The woman from the throne room said with vehemence, "Some people play sabacc –he goes through apprentices. I'll bet he likes to guess how they'll die."

"I do my job, Nicole" Replied Mara, with more than a little ice in her voice, "Which is more than I can say for you."

"Newsflash, I don't have a job –and frankly you don't either," Nicole said, mockingly, "You're nothing but a wannabe apprentice." Mara gritted her teeth –determined not to give Nicole any gratification,

"But it's better than being nothing." And with this, Mara left, hoping to leave with the last remark –but no such luck.

"Being nothing is better than being a slave."

* * *

I'm back!

So, here's the newest chapter: sorry if it isn't the best, I was just trying to get something out, and I'll probably go back and edit a bit later.

Now that I'm slightly less busy, I'll be updating, but keep in mind that updates might still be slightly sporadic.


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